Susara
22nd Apr 2005, 05:59 AM
After lots of reading on the web, printing out Parelli games and other versions of them and getting hold of Kelly Mark's 'Perfect Manners', I'm now very keen on trying my hand with some of the exercises. I have to admit it's intimidating, you read and read and then you stand in front of the horse and get really worried that you're going to mess up big time.
But any case, my rather vauge title refers to the approach to 'perfection' in the games/exercises. For instance, Kelly Marks suggests a set of Foundation games; starting with letting the horse come to you on the line from a distance, then backing up, then moving laterally, etc. Now, does one first 'complete' one game to quite a high level before you move on to the next one, or do you sort of play around with the lot of them, all of them at first being rather horrid but improving as you go along?
So, if you imagine a training session, would you see me taking a few minutes to touch and rub the horse all over, then do a few 'come to me on the line' steps, then back up a little (however skew), then walk around a bit, then try a the lateral work exercise, perhaps back to the come-to-me one, backup a little, etc? Or I could work on the come-to-me until the horse comes to me from 3m in a straight line, which will probably take a good few sessions over a period of days. Then for the next set of sessions work on backing up until he can backup smoothly and straight for 3m. Then start lateral work until that works smoothly, etc. So each session is concentrated on reviewing old games, and perfecting the next one.
Another aspect that ties in with this; my baby is just shy of 3. Given that he's very relaxed around people (could touch him everywhere first time I saw him) and seems to be quite sharp (ok, all moms think their babies clever!), how long would you make these training sessions? I can only get to the stables about 4 times per week, so doing fewer but longer sessions would obviously suit my own schedule better. Perhaps there are a few things I can do with him that doesn't take much concentration, so I can do it for a longer time inbetween the more intense stuff?
But any case, my rather vauge title refers to the approach to 'perfection' in the games/exercises. For instance, Kelly Marks suggests a set of Foundation games; starting with letting the horse come to you on the line from a distance, then backing up, then moving laterally, etc. Now, does one first 'complete' one game to quite a high level before you move on to the next one, or do you sort of play around with the lot of them, all of them at first being rather horrid but improving as you go along?
So, if you imagine a training session, would you see me taking a few minutes to touch and rub the horse all over, then do a few 'come to me on the line' steps, then back up a little (however skew), then walk around a bit, then try a the lateral work exercise, perhaps back to the come-to-me one, backup a little, etc? Or I could work on the come-to-me until the horse comes to me from 3m in a straight line, which will probably take a good few sessions over a period of days. Then for the next set of sessions work on backing up until he can backup smoothly and straight for 3m. Then start lateral work until that works smoothly, etc. So each session is concentrated on reviewing old games, and perfecting the next one.
Another aspect that ties in with this; my baby is just shy of 3. Given that he's very relaxed around people (could touch him everywhere first time I saw him) and seems to be quite sharp (ok, all moms think their babies clever!), how long would you make these training sessions? I can only get to the stables about 4 times per week, so doing fewer but longer sessions would obviously suit my own schedule better. Perhaps there are a few things I can do with him that doesn't take much concentration, so I can do it for a longer time inbetween the more intense stuff?